Manly Sea Eagles 28
Cronulla Sharks 16
Manly started strong early with a try in the sixth minute going the way of Jorge Taufua after the ball was spread left for the massive winger.
>> MATCH REPORT: Manly claw off bottom of NRL ladder
Taufua struck again in the 20th minute leaping high and beating four Cronulla players in the contest to extend Manly’s lead.
Daly Cherry-Evans was denied five minutes later after Jayden Hodges lost the ball over the tryline.
With three minutes left on the clock, Sosaia Feki went over the line to put the Sharks on the board.
Steve Matai was the first to go over in the second-half after Brett Stewart kicked for Taufua on the sideline who passed it back in for his partner on the left.
Daly Cherry-Evans raced away after Ben Barba dropped the ball. Later on in the set, he went through a gap to put Manly in front by 18 points.
Ten minutes later, Kieran Foran kicked high to Tom Trbojevic. Stewart got the ball and went over, his try was disallowed however.
Andrew Fifita put the Sharks back in the game after a beautiful Jeff Robson pass sent him through a gap in the Manly line.
Jorge Taufua secured the Sea Eagles’ win with a hat-trick try on the left wing.
Andrew Fifita scored on the stroke of fulltime but it wasn’t enough to defeat the Sea Eagles who came away with a 12-point win in front of a 14,881 strong crowd at Brookvale Oval.
The battle of the beaches returns to Brookvale Oval when the Manly Sea Eagles take on the Cronulla Sharks in one of the biggest matches of the NRL round. Join The Roar from 3.50pm (AEST) on Sunday for live scores and commentary.
Manly have Daly Cherry-Evans in their side, and coming off an 18-point loss at the hands of South Sydney, they will need strong performances from all their stars as they try to scrape their way off the bottom of the table.
Matt Ballin needs to step up considerably as do the Manly halves. With Feleti Mateo essentially having carried the team over the past few weeks, Toovey’s men will need to work as a team to get back into the winner’s circle.
The Sharks are coming off the back of a win over North Queensland, finally ending the Cowboys’ dream streak. Cronulla are on cloud nine and have a load of confidence, plenty to shut down the Sea Eagles. The Sharks must look to their outside backs for spark and their huge forward pack to create holes in the line.
The Sea Eagles’ back-row will face a huge challenge in Cronulla’s Luke Lewis, Wade Graham and Chris Heighington, who collectively share over 650 first grade games compared to Manly’s paltry 350 first grade games collective – 200 of which come off of Feleti Mateo.
Experience in the forwards is key and it will help the Sharks to find their way over the line and muscle up to get the two points which may be enough to push them up into the top eight.
In the only change for the Sea Eagles, Willie Mason returns on an extended five-man bench. Cherry-Evans was not selected for State of Origin and will therefore play for Manly. Cronulla are unchanged.
Since 1998, Manly and Cronulla have played 23 games against each other with the Sea Eagles winning 15 and the Sharks eight. Last time the two teams met was in Round 15 of 2014 when the Sea Eagles won by 26 points, keeping the Sharks to nil.
Manly are currently sitting in last place and are coming off the back of a 8-20 loss to the Rabbitohs. Cronulla are at ninth spot and are coming off the back of a win over North Queensland 24-18.
Prediction
The Sharks’ recent form will prove too much for the Sea Eagles to overcome.
Sharks by six.
Join The Roar from 3.50pm (AEST) for live scores and debate in our live blog.
Shades Carter
Roar Rookie
Sorry man, ignore my top comment.
Shades Carter
Roar Rookie
And bye the way, I thought this Brookie Oval Crowd Capacity thing ended last night. If not I'm ending it now and moving on with my life and NRL games plus State of Origin and enjoy my time off from uni.
Shades Carter
Roar Rookie
Oh I'm sorry, have you come up with a number yet? Have you done research? Or are you just following the crowd? Unless you have an estimated figure, then you can't call my research garbage mate. So come back when you've found a number for Brookies seating capacity and a website reference.
planko
Guest
Jason Hosken Bird did not get any ball.... Not sure if he was injured but he got very few opportunites. Also Cronulla in the first half got almost no ball that no pressure running area (well that what I cal it) Between the half way and Manly's 20 metre. Where you can run it and take a risk. I really rate Bird to btw it definately helped manly's cause that he got few opportunities.
planko
Guest
Come on EJ I think if they can keep Starling on the field with Jake , Lawrence maybe back for the rest of the seaon I give them a chance against any team. They need to concentrate on one game at a time and their for and against I see the 8 being sorted out by the F & A again.
planko
Guest
Oh Wikipedia must be right then...
planko
Guest
Your research is utter garbage..
JVGO
Guest
It was a replay of the Dragons match. Sharks with players out looked good in the arm wrestle early then a ridiculous soft penalty invites the opposition down the other end, they score against our right edge and we kick out on the full from the kick off. Absolute carbon copy. More absurd penalties. Somehow the Dragons only lead 10-6 at half time, but the damage is done. Dragons then put forty on us as we implode, kick out on the full again, couldn't even get a line drop out to go ten metres. The Dragons then begin to think they are world beaters and have now lost four in a row. If Manly think their performance today is worth anything at all they will probably lose the next ten straight. I'd put money on the Eagles for the spoon at this stage although they are probably slapping themselves on the back tonight.
JVGO
Guest
Sure, but doesn't change the fact that those calls and many others were just preposterous and embarrassing.
Renegade
Roar Guru
Manly were the better side today JVGO.... The Sharks were below their best but were just off the pace of the game today. Manly's weakness is their pack and the Sharks strength is their pack but manly managed to win the forwards battle too. You're right about Ennis though.... He is such a vital part of this team, until today he had played every minute of every match this season and the difference in service from dummy half was telling. What I want to see is how the Sharks bounce back from this after a month of highs.... Next week is their first home game in 5 weeks after a month on the road - If they are serious about playing finals footy, they should annihilate the opposition.
JVGO
Guest
Anyway hopefully Ennis gets to play on Wednesday. He has been the Sharks best player all year and if he plays anything like he has at club level I think NSW are specials.
Jay C
Roar Guru
as if we needed another reason to hate the sea eagles they voted Tony into office nuff said
JVGO
Guest
That was the worst reffed game I have seen this year. Some of those penalties and decisions were just preposterous and embarrassing. The first Manly penalty, the no knock on from Cherry Evans, the changed call for the scrum feed all led to Manly tries. Just meant Cronulla were playing catch up the whole game. Without their two best players they just couldn't get it together. If Manly get all those Brookie calls every week they will probably win the comp.
Shades Carter
Roar Rookie
Just found this on the Brookie Wikipedia page: On 6 August 2013, that aim became a reality when the Federal Government guaranteed Brookvale Oval a grant of $10 million regardless of the Federal Election held in Australia on 7 September (Brookvale Oval sits in the seat of Warringah, currently held by the leader of the Liberal Party Tony Abbott, who is also the current Prime Minister of Australia). The money is part of a planned $30m upgrade of the oval which will include a new 4,350 seat grandstand complete with corporate facilities on the eastern hill, as well as upgrades to the Fulton-Menzies Stand. The northern or Family Hill is expected to remain as it is and the grounds capacity is expected to remain at around 23,000 when the planned re-development is finished.[7]
Alex L
Roar Rookie
Wikipedia might claim 23k, but in reality, only if they're all children.
eagleJack
Roar Guru
Was that the Battle of Brookvale JH? 20,414. That's the last big crowd I have been to at Brookie. No chance of getting another soul in there that night.
Shades Carter
Roar Rookie
From Wikipedia actually, yes I know about the speech of "anybody can edit Wikipedia pages", but most of the info on wiki pages is usually correct, so maybe the wiki page was out of date, if so then I'll go with the figure everybody else says.
Jason Hosken
Guest
Bird didnt take on the line today. Strange. I didnt have match comms, was he fit?
Jason Hosken
Guest
20k v storm (or maybe Souths) couple of years ago was beyond comfortable. Can't see them ever posting 21+ with current configuration.
Jason Hosken
Guest
Great crowd EJ, i thought 12k would be a good one. Sharks were scrappy like Tigers in our last home start. Agree, still struggling for timing in attack. Promised plenty early again. Anyway, take e everything we can get at present.